The Pub Club: Who, What & Why…

TPC Founder Bethany Huot writes out questions from UGs @ the second UGrad Career Development Day

The Pub Club (TPC) is a small group of people (2 to 40) within the educational community gathering together to take ownership of the Academic phase of their Careers. The “objective” of TPC is to tap into and build our own “Community of Minds” in order to best serve both the scientist & the science. The Pub Club works to apply The COM’s position that “our career does not begin after completing Higher Ed. but before we start.” By design, a TPC follows a “Community of Minds” structure and, as with any community, it will function best and produce the most if the individuals of which it is comprised work to learn from and support each other. After some trial and error, a successful formula for The Pub Club has been found and is summarized in three posts titled “TPC Structure”1,2and3. The Pub Club has become a useful resource for all the members of the 3 labs located in the 4th floor of the Molecular Plant Science (MPS) building at Michigan State University who choose to take advantage of it. The Pub Club meets every week to provide both an opportunity and a resource all members can count on. The “task” is to be available to each member when their schedule allows and their needs require. The structure, meetings and special events are all designed to enable members through active participation to build and hone the “Diverse Skills” necessary to not only be accomplished scientists and do better science, but to also turn that into a successful career of their choosing. Whether that science career is a dedicated academic, industrial, science communication or any of the other options available to us, the “COM” concept supported and utilized by The Pub Club only strengthens these goals. No one can argue against the fact that even the most brilliant technical scientist is made better by a practiced and refined ability to communicate that science to others. Likewise, everyone has experience with “writer’s block” or what we in experimental design might call a “mental log jam.” TPC has shown that engaging in casual conversations about issues with peers helps us identify problems and restore the flow of a project more quickly and effectively than going it alone. It is our belief and experience that what are often discouraged or completely discarded as “peripheral” skills are actually invaluable tools to achieving better results (see: Diverse Skill post). One of the many sources referenced in this post is an article and corresponding study in BioScience Magazine that shows those who would separate career from education or “professional skills” from technical skills – as if they are opposing paths – do a disservice to themselves and science in general. For example,

An “Academic” whose “written communication” is better is far more likely to get published and receive grants than a scientist who does not take the time to develop this skill.

An “Industry” scientist is also more likely to get hired, get projects approved and get promoted if they have these same “written communication” skills.

An “Entrepreneur” will have little chance of getting their venture funded much less grow successfully without an accomplished ability to present their ideas in “written communication.”

This is just a peak at the Who, What & the Why of The Pub Club. For a closer look, take the time to thoroughly review the website. If you would like to know more about the “How,” contact Founder/ Director Bethany by submitting the brief form at the bottom of the following page. — click here —